You Can Read It in the Funny Papers

When
I lived in Berkeley, California during the 1970s and 1980s, I probably
spent more money at Comics & Comix on Berkeley’s Telegraph Ave. than
at any other store except for those that sold beer and food. At the
time, underground comix were still published frequently enough so one
could get something new every few weeks. Plus, there were always old
publications to buy. Sometime in 1978 the first issue of Anarchy Comics
was published. The red cover caught my eye immediately upon entering
the store (as it was intended to do, no doubt). I skimmed the comic,
saw artwork I recognized and forked over the coins to the clerk. “You’ll
like that,” he said. “Got some Spain in there, some other cool shit.”
We talked for a couple minutes and I left. My friends and I got into our
van and drove back to our house in East Oakland. We had some weed, beer
and a handful of comix. Our eviction was still a week away. We were set
for the evening.

A mélange of history, utopian speculation, social commentary and just plain fun, Anarchy Comics
were the brainchild of cartoonist Jay Kinney. Previously known for his
work with the comic Young Lust and the Bijou Funnies series, Kinney
decided to explore his interest in the history and philosophy of
anarchism via comic books. When the first issue came out, it sold
quickly. In part, this was because of the cartoonists it featured;
Spain Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton (of Austin’s Fabulous Furry Freak
Brothers), the Frenchman Paul Mavrides, JR Burnham, Epistoliery and
Volny on the Kronstadt uprising, Clifford Harper of Britain’s Class War
Comix , Melanie Gebbies, and Kinney himself. The publisher was none
other than Ron Turner, whose dystopian Last Gasp comix foretold a grim
future of ecological devastation and human despair.

Over the next ten years, three more issues of Anarchy Comics
would be published. Always entertaining and informational, they
continued to include most of the aforementioned artists, while adding
others along the way, including underground legend Greg Irons and Marvel
artist Steven Stiles. Spain’s contributions continued to highlight
anarchist history: Durruti in the Spanish Civil War and Italy’s Roman
Spring of 1977; Harper turned his pen to more contemporary social
criticism; Mavrides and Kinney collaborated on both. The highlight of
this collaboration is the story titled “Kultur Dokuments” that appears
in issue number two. This story begins with a tale about a
not-too-distant future where the Picto family, depicted with
paper-cutouts, lives a two-dimensional life proscribed by the state
whose goal is to take over everyone’s brain. As the family members
succumb, only the teenage son avoids that fate. After being locked into
his room by his parents, he finds a comic book that is the best parody
of the classic Archie comic series ever published. Titled “Anarchie,”
it is the story of Anarchie and his friend Ludehead engaged in
shenanigans typical of the actual characters except with a twist of
rebellion. Suffice it to say, I never looked at Archie comics the same
after reading this.

Recently, PM Press published the entire collection of Anarchy Comics
in one volume. Besides the content of the individual comic books,
Kinney has included his tale of their genesis, a foreword by Paul Buhle,
some ephemera and short biographies of each cartoonist. Besides being
an important event in the history of comics and underground culture,
PM’s republication of these comix gives an entirely new generation to
read, appreciate and be inspired by the art, humor and intelligence that
went into them.

Speaking of comic characters, there are very few
who are older than the German Kasper. The classic figure of the
trickster, known in every human culture from Coyote to Star Trek’s Q,
the Kaspers of human culture are here to point out our shortcomings and
our foibles; our injustices and our selfishness. Their sense of humor
is not always that funny and their finger pointing is often taken quite
poorly. This is as it should be. In Germany, they are known as the
Kasperle and appear in Fasching parades, political protests and on
television. They are loved for what they say and hated because they
blame us all for being complicit.

The Bread and Puppet Theatre
has spent more than four decades doing what tricksters do. This is why
it is only right that the recently published book from Peter Schumann,
the troupe’s founder and inspiration, should be about this Kasper. A
collection of cartoons drawn over the past several years, Schumann’s Planet Kasper
takes on capitalist globalization, its wars and its proselytizers.
This Kasper is a clever, subversive commentary on the culture and
cruelty of modern capitalism. It is drawn with primitive lines evoking
not only the puppets of the Bread and Puppet theatre, but also their
predecessors from old Europe. The parables told are simple and
pointed. The solutions to the problems presented are equally so. It is
the illusions that we believe that prevent us from seeing this truth.
Kasper’s task, like all tricksters, is to destroy those illusions.
Utilizing metaphor, sarcasm, and even a little scatological humor, Peter
Schumann’s trickster does his best. The rest is up to us.

Comics
and cartoons are often meant to be funny. They can also be an
effective means of relaying history and ideas. In addition, the best
comics are also subversive. The ultimate combination of art, words and
story can turn the reader’s world upside down or at least into a twist,
challenging previously held notions. If we accept these criteria to
define quality comic art, then Jay Kinney’s Anarchy Comics and Peter Schumann’s Planet Kasper are both at the top of the form.

Ron Jacobs is the author of The Way the Wind Blew: a History of the Weather Underground and Short Order Frame Up. Jacobs’ essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch’s collection on music, art and sex, Serpents in the Garden. His collection of essays and other musings titled Tripping Through the American Night is now available and his new novel is The Co-Conspirator’s Tale. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion, published by AK Press. He can be reached at: ronj1955@gmail.com.